Theology Thoughts: Two Calls

As some of you know, I've been thinking about theology lately (in between Shakespeare and Benjamin Franklin and depressing World Lit books... or rather, during all these, which gets interesting). I am very out of practice in thinking logically, boldly, and humbly, all at once. So I want to use some blog posts to explain and wrestle with some thoughts and concepts and seeming confusing conundrums. Sometimes I might just post a quote or verse or idea that made me think. Here's something I read today I found interesting...

John Piper on God's General vs. Effectual Call:

"But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24) but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." Notice carefully that Paul preaches Christ to Jews and Gentiles indiscriminately. In that sense all are called. But that is not the sense in which Paul uses the word. He says that out from among those who hear the general call there are those who are "called." And the difference is that those who are called in this narrower sense stop regarding Christ as a stumbling block and as folly. Instead they regard him as the power of God and the wisdom of God. Verse 24: "But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ [becomes] the power of God and the wisdom of God."

The call of God that Paul has in mind is not like the call of a pet: "Here Blackie. Here Blackie. Come on girl." Blackie may or may not come. The call of God is like the call of Jesus to the corpse of Lazarus: "Lazarus, come forth!" The call contains the power to produce what it commands. It is an effectual call. That is why Paul can say in Romans 8:30 that all "those who are called are justified." The certainty of their justification lies in the fact that the faith by which men are justified is produced by the effectual call of God.

From this sermon by John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

Besides these two types of calling, there are other areas where God does something general and specific. General revelation is what everyone knows about God, as He has revealed Himself through nature. But it is the special revelation of the Bible that reveals Him most truly. There are the general gifts of grace and lovingkindness He sheds abroad to all His creation (rain, sunshine, air, etc.), but there is also a specific lovingkindness for his children that is so much more, which is salvation and all-satisfying joy through Christ. Everyone gets the general. Only a few the specific.

So, how do we know the difference between these general and specific things in Scripture? What are the implications of there being a difference at all?

Hmm. I must get back to my paper Shakespeare paper, but hope to think and write more soon. In the meantime, I welcome your thoughts! :-)

Not-so-everyday News

Because it's so great. :-)
(For more, see the whole series of reports here.)

Authenticity Quotes

Here are some quotes that stuck out to me from a recent Boundless article:

We long for reality, even fake reality.

One irony in our culture is that, for all of our praise for "spontaneity" and "radical free choice," we are remarkably conformist. In a way, we are conformist in practice (all wearing jeans) while being nonconformist in principles (believing widely contrary ideas about honesty). Yet we should be personally flexible but morally predictable. We should agree on important values and then apply them in wide-ranging, freedom-inspired ways.

Authenticity practices a gracious honesty, and it takes wisdom to know when is the best time to say the fullness of what we think and feel.

Authenticity doesn't mean we never act insincerely. This sounds rather odd, but "pretending" is, at times, essential, inevitable, and ethical. In Faking It, William Ian Miller acknowledges that although insincerity conjures up many negative connotations, "I am not a hypocrite ... for pretending to find interesting what is dull, ... [n]or am I a hypocrite for putting on a somber face at the news of the untimely death of a person I didn't especially care for."

"Let us pretend in order to make the pretense into a reality." ~C. S. Lewis~

Again doth life speed on apace!

Recently in the life and times of Rael:

• Returned to Abilene for my last semester as a senior English major
• Had a tea party on my bedroom floor with one creative mom and four lively kids
• Began 4 college classes (World Lit, American Lit, Shakespeare, and Lifetime Wellness)
• Watched LotR (the extended edition, of course, in 1-disk-per-morning/night installments) with S and Mrs. I.
• Began walking almost every morning on a darkening county road with neighbor ladies.
• Took a wild sunset ride on a four-wheeler (Mrs. I was driving, thank goodness!)

Whew! And that's just a bit of it. At the moment I'm sitting in the quiet English Department workroom; we student workers are allowed to do our own thing when there's no work to be done. After a while I'll head out to help with AWANA Cubbies.

Tonight is the first club meeting of this school year! How cheering it was last year to greet those shining, chubby (often mischief-inclined) little faces every week! Games are fun, and puppets, and story time, not to mention crafts and the all-important snack time! But to help them learn God's Word is the most priceless responsibility. I pray the words will come back to them later in life, as they do to me even now, so many years after being in AWANA myself.

Though perhaps they'll remember the references better than I. ;)

Hiding

In footie pajamas or Sunday best, us kids were often called upon to give recitations when I was little. We lined up on the raised brick in front of the fireplace, singing rousing versions of "The Battle of New Orleans" or "Great Granddad." To the last, we always added the crucial "Hm, musta stuck to him!"

Why did these memories awake? This morning's Bible reading.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."

We memorized a good bit of Psalm 91, and it was often part of the recitals. We spouted it off quickly, as children often do with any memorized words But the lyrical quality of the first glorious sentence stayed with me.

And images quietly engraved themselves.

Fiery arrows raining down.

Huge wings to hide under.

Over my childhood years, these wings grew in my mind. They protected and nurtured like those of Fledge the winged horse, though of course much bigger. Like the golden wings of the great eagle in Rescuers Down Under, though these wings never needed rescuing.

Part of my "grown-up" self is revolted at the idea of comparing God with something birdlike. Birds can be rather nasty, even mean. But perhaps angels had wings before birds even were, so wings may not be essentially bird-ish. And maybe birds are only meant to reflect in some small yet tangible aspect something about their Maker.

He wants me to run and hide under His wings now, as readily as that child on the fireplace brick.

Sewing with T&T

Greetings from Lady Rael's seamstress corner!

Today after a wonderful time at the used-book store (everything was 75% off!), lunch, a nap, and reading (Brother Andrew's book Light Force), I set myself to work on costumes. Time is slipping away!

I'm almost to the hemming stage on Whit's, and am having a jolly time on my grandmother's clackity Singer whilst listening to the antics of Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime. Tommy's just got into a scrape, and I ought to get back to work so Tuppence can get him out of it.

Right ho, old beans, I'm off then! ;-)

(By the by, the gel in the picture is the Lady of Shallot in her tower, I think. I'm certianly glad I'm not doing a huge complicated tapestry, and can look out the window without danger! But her hair is a bit like mine, though it doesn't always fly upward... ;) And her dress is quite loverly!)

Drawing from a lad

This was a gift from one of the three boys in the younger group of kids at the art camp. I was told the figure on the left is him, the larger face in the middle is me, and I think the wonderful lips floating on the right would have made Larry the Cucumber happy.

Little Diego... Didn't he do an amazing job of writing his name perfectly backwards? He was probably about seven years old, and just made my heart want to melt. Always had something to tell me, with the wide eyes of one who craves attention. The two other little boys were cute and hilarious, but I was drawn to Diego. He had a bit of a stutter, so sometimes his narrations dragged on. I loved them.

One day he had a bad case of asthma and couldn't come to art camp. I used to have trouble with asthma too. Again, my heart went out to him.

Sometimes I wonder why God gave me so much experience with brothers (all five of them dear and different). Am I going to end up with a clan of wonderfully wild lads of my own? Or will I be called to mother some young fellow who's own can't. Long ago I thought I might work at an missionary orphanage. I keep forgetting that longing, and it keeps sneaking back. The Middle East, China, and Europe especially seem to whisper.

I tend to either jump at or completely ignore my visions. I must learn patience! I don't know why the Lord seems to keep suggesting this area of ministry, but that's okay. Maybe I'll end up as a missionary's wife. Maybe I'm simply called to support missionaries from afar. Maybe some day He'll show and lead me to do something daring, like Amy Carmichael's mission to Indian girls, or maybe He wants me to open my eyes to the needy here, to the suffering families on my block, in my church.

Where is He calling me? May I never deafen my heart to His whisper, and season radical compassion with godly discernment.

Diego didn't come today, the last morning of art camp. I missed him. The hole his absence left reminds me to lift him to the Father, who knows and loves boys so much more than I.

Hobbit thoughts

Having finished The Return of the King last night, I was inspired to write downs some thoughts that struck me especially on this viewing. Here is one, and more may follow later. (Images are from here.)

~~~


“Throw it in the fire! What are you waiting for?”

He struggled. He tried. The bravest, best hobbit had come all this way and made so many sacrifices.

Just let it go, Sam pleaded. But he can’t. The Ring has taken hold. No, Sam. The Ring is mine.

At that moment, even as we mourn with Sam for his friend, we know that what flashes in those eyes no longer wants deliverance. It is horrible as Anakin turning to the Dark Side, Obi Wan powerless to stop his friend’s self-destruction. Worse, in Frodo’s case, because he can’t even claim reason and love to be his downfall. It is a gut-like, hungry evil, and has consumed all the goodness that tried so hard to fight.

Does sin really make us this hideously disgusting to the One who loves us most when we are fallen?

And he disappears, even as do all who grasp for control and mastery. Wraiths, ghosts, empty- counterpoints of fellowship. Some never know the bite of loosing their Precious, or the saving hand offering life freely.

Update and Quotes

Quick update on my doings:

• I'm working at the museum's art camp again, this week and next. Fun fun! The thing kids will say, not to mention make! :-)

• Several medieval costumes are still under construction, and I haven't even started mine yet! They're so much fun, though. I've done a bit of hemming while watching The Lord of The Rings with my family, in semi-daily segments.

• Being responsible, when one slips into laziness, is rather frustrating. During summer I'm at my worst habit-wise. As in keeping track of days, and filling out forms on time. :-(

• For anyone who's wondering (C and Mr. I. ;) My man has yet to come forward and show interest in courtship. Whoever he is, wherever he is... ;) Patience is much needed by me!

“Marriage teaches us that even the most intimate human companionship cannot satisfy the deepest
places of the heart. Our hearts are lonely ‘til they rest in Him.”

~Elisabeth Elliot~

“You can make the clock strike before its hour by putting your hand on it, but it will strike wrong. You can tear the rosebud open before its time, but you will mar its beauty. So we may spoil many a gift of blessing which God is preparing for us, by our own eager haste. He is weaving our lives and has a perfect plan for each. Let us not pull the threads!”
~Unknown~

I wish Thy way.
But when in me myself would rise
And long for something otherwise,
Then, Holy One, take sword and spear
And slay.

-Amy Carmichael

Summer-y: Pipes

My little- rather, my youngest brother (seeing as he’s taller than me now), Whit, got a bagpipe practice chanter for Christmas, and during the school year he’s taken lessons from a teacher at his school. For free. This summer he’s gone a few times to her bagpipe practice group that meets in a church building, and each time the pipers have been eager to work with him and basically give him more free lessons in between their own practice. Perhaps they’re afraid the art is dying out, and they love it too much to ask for money before passing it on.

Well, the other evening I went with Whit to practice to watch and listen and let my Scottish blood tingle. I was quickly interrogated as to whether I played too (no), whether I wanted to (perhaps some day), and at that I was handed a chanter and guided by one big burly man (with a reddish-blond beard), while Whit was interrogated on his practice or lack thereof and worked with through a new song. Our mom had left for a quilter’s meeting across the street, so when we came out I informed her that I now had a borrowed practice chanter and the ability to play the scale! More like honk and puff and screech out the scale, but at least I know where the notes are and how (after a bit of blowing) to make something a bit like a note emerge.

The moral of the story: If you’re around a bagpiper and have some slight wish to play the instrument someday, beware! ;)

Summery-y: Brothers, Tea, Movies, Silliness…

What have I done with brothers? Hmm. Dishes, making fruit salad and zucchini bread, laundry, listening to Adventures in Odyssey, library trips… Whit and I have been having a nice pot of tea every night and watching an episode of The Waltons. We just ran out of Earl Grey, though, to which I am a recent convert thanks to my friend Catie. ;) I’m also trying to finish sewing a lovely grey skirt that should help my wardrobe a lot. Yesterday Isaac and Whit’s friend Daniel came to spend the night, and we watched the first three Star Wars episodes. We were going to watch the last three today, but I think the boys are having more fun on the computers.

Patience, Rael needs to learn. Been wanting to have a Lord of the Rings marathon too, she has. But marathon watching all the time not good it would be! Getting worse are her sentences, so stop now she must. To write later she will try.

Summer-y: Art Camp

For the last two weeks, my mom taught art classes for kids at a nearby museum, and I got to be her paid assistant! That was a blast. The first week we made books, and the second it was imaginary things/creatures (the most fun). It’s heart-wrenching, meeting kids from broken homes, bashing heads with a few difficult-yet-lovable ones, wanting to take home the sweetest little shy ones, and then saying goodbye, hoping to see them next year.

Some of those kids acted like they’d never played with paper and glue before. Some liked to copy the examples, while others went off in wild directions with painful enthusiasm. We had to go from saying, “Don’t use all the pipe cleaners; someone else might need some!” to “I can’t tell you exactly how to do it. Be creative, and use more paint!”

Among other things, they made a multitude of pipe-cleaner princesses, robots made from tin cans, a mermaid playing basketball, a UFO invading a castle while the people were out shopping (one of my favorites), and a wardrobe door that opened into a forest of popsicle-stick trees and a sky of white button-stars on a felt background. And it was a delight to see tables and floor covered with so many feathers, beads, buttons, sequins, googly eyes, pieces of cardstock and tissue paper, pencils, scissors, and web-like strings from the glue gun (operated by myself, with peeling fingers and huge popularity as reward), that one could tell at a glance fun was had by all. Then there was cleaning up on Friday. But t’was more than worth it! In a few weeks I’ll be helping some other teachers with two more weeks of it, but I don’t think it could be quite as enjoyable as doing it with my own dear creative mum. :-)

Summer-y: Books

My summer reading thus far:

(Warning: long post ahead!)

The Silmarillion – J. R. R. Tolkien

In my records, it looks like my third time to read it, but I it felt more like the fourth... Still wonderful, less confusing each time. You must read bits aloud; Tolkien’s language is poetry. Part of this I read for my Monsters in British Literature class, but of course I had to re-read it all.

Love Your God With All Your Mind – J. P. Moreland

Not extraordinary, but a good reminder that we Christians are indeed called to use our brains for the Lord, and have more reason for seeking understanding and being logical than anyone else!

Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë

I can’t believe I never read this before! Brontë lacks Jane Austin’s witty humor and is indeed darker, as I heard before, but the romantic in me was swept up with Jane in her story. Plenty of dark and stormy nights, and brooding mysterious characters, and fires and mean aunts, and the lively not-exactly-pretty heroine whose morals are even stronger than her strong independence. It seemed a bit feministic in spots, at least for the time it was written, which may be its one drawback. Still, I very much enjoyed it.

The Story of Liberty – Charles C. Coffin

This is a reprint of a history book for children from the late 1800s. It chronicles the story of liberty in Europe, starting with the Magna Charta and goes all the way to the Pilgrims. My mom read this to us years ago for homeschool, and I had such vivid memories of its impact that I had to read it myself. This is no dull textbook! It reads like an exciting tale, focusing in on important characters and painting them in striking ways so that we remember them. I want to read this one to my children. Coffin also wrote a sequel mainly about the early days of America, called Sweet Land of Liberty, which I still need to read.

Pilgrim’s Inn – Elizabeth Goudge

I credit my discovery of this gem to Lanier and Gretchen of the Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. After noting some names of their recommended authors, I began to watch at the used bookstore and library. My goodness. I haven’t been this enthralled by characters like this in a long time. Goudge’s writing is a delight, like fresh cold water, and I hated coming to the end because the people were already my own dear friends! As Gretchen pointed out in a recent post, there is a bit of a trend to romanticize nature, which I hadn’t consciously noticed. Maybe because it’s one of my own faults. But it also made me more thoughtful of how we can love people despite their oddities and flaws, and yet want them to get better too. There is so much insight here. Definitely one of my new favorites.

Elizabeth Elliot – Passion and Purity

I read this about five years ago, and was amazed at how different it seemed! Back then, at seventeen, I knew it was a good book, but everything was still vague and theoretical. Maybe because I was more emotional, I was also hungrier for pure theory on how God wanted romance to work. Now having been at college and felt a bit more the rigors and pains of waiting for my man, sometimes thinking I knew who he was, I connected Mrs. Elliot’s own story so much it was almost frightening, and her advice was exactly what I needed.

The Black Caldron – Lloyd Alexander

This was just for fun. I read this first of the Prydain Chronicles a while back, and just now got to this one. Based on Welsh myths, these are just fun books. My favorite characters may be the lovable-Gollum character, Gurgi, or the bard Ffleddurw Fflam, whose harp strings snap when he stretches the truth, and who fights much better than he sings (but of course thinks highly of his barding skills). A bit predictable and not the greatest philosophy, but makes me hungry to learn Welsh and read the original myths.

G. K. Chesterton – Orthodoxy

Chesterton was a Catholic writer from about a hundred years ago, and this delightful little book of his keeps jumping into my thoughts and conversations weeks after I finished it. I read some Father Brown mysteries before, and in our online Thinklings group we went through the hilarious tale of Manalive!, but this book may be up with Mere Christianity on my list. It seemed almost every sentence could be a quote. Chesterton’s exposition on his journey to becoming a Christian is, as he says, not in the general way of apologetics. He doesn’t prove Christianity is true. But he shows in more ways than I can count why it might be, and perhaps even more, why it’s the most appealing. I’m not doing this book or its author justice. Just read it if you haven’t.

Princess Academy – Shannon Hale

My mother dear read this and wanted me to read it. It’s a story about a mountain girl named Miri whose village is prophesied to be the home of the future princess. A school is started to educate the girls for a year before the prince comes to choose his bride. It’s full of twists and surprises and interesting descriptions of a village that exists entirely to mine marble-like stone called linder. And of course teen-aged girls and a mean school teacher. (Are school stories going to be overdone by the time I finish Melod’s story? Grr.) I enjoyed this, but I may have spent too much time not doing other things because I had to find out what would happen. Interesting, but not my favorite.

Law and Liberty – Rousas John Rushdoony (Currently reading)

My dear pen pal gave me this for my birthday, but until now I haven’t been disciplined enough to get very far into it. It’s good stuff, written in the mid-sixties, about how true liberty only comes from laws based on Biblical morality. It’s reminding me of why it’s important that Christians be involved in politics, and even the purpose of law:

“Laws grounded in the Bible do not attempt to save man or to usher in a brave new world, a great society, world peace, a poverty-free world, or any other such ideal. The purpose of Biblical law, and all laws grounded on a Biblical faith, is to punish and restrain evil, and to protect live and property, to provide justice to all people. It is not the purpose of the state and its laws to change or reform men: this is a spiritual matter and a task for religion. Man can be changed only by the grace of God through the ministry of His word. Man cannot be changed by statist legislation; he cannot be legislated into a new character. The evil will or heart of a man can be restrained by law, in that a man can be afraid of the consequences of disobedience.” (Rushdoony, page 3)

The Cross and the Call – Aaron Gruben (Currently reading)

This is an extraordinary epic tale of a young man named Peter who goes on the Crusades, rather in the vein of G.A. Henty, full of good characters, adventure, mystery, history, and the call to Biblical courage and wisdom. I can’t tell you to buy it yet, because it’s a manuscript I’m reading for a friend, but when it is published I think you will never find a more interesting, more researched book written by a vet student! ;)

Summer Summery intro: Hello again!

For all my dear friends who have not seen a letter from me in ages, or have fruitlessly checked my blog and seen neither hide nor hair of me (nor the written equivalent), please accept my apologies. My excuses are of course very good and interesting, as are those of all procrast- ehem, that is, highly-occupied people… Anyways, here is a series of catch-up posts, broken up so we can pretend I’ve faithfully written them over several days instead of in one day’s spurt. ;)

Home again, home again...

Well, here I am, in the little house in the town again, with my mother and four very tall brothers. The youngest two have shot up while I was away, and Isaac turned 15 the day after I came back! But I was already their “little” big sister, so not too much has changed. ;)

I’ve only one more semester of this “there and back again” business. It’s funny, I seem to be making a habit of odd graduations. In homeschool I was in my own class and had my own ceremony (at a sweet little church, surrounded by dear friends and family). And I have no clue what December graduations are like, but I can already tell it will be strange to finish mid-year. Then it’s on to book-writing, hopefully and more adventures unknown!

One of the difficulties in Christian work is this question— “What do you expect to do?” You do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually revise your attitude towards God and see if it is a going out of everything, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in perpetual wonder— you do not know what God is going to do next. ~Oswald Chambers~

Perhaps I should carry this quote around with me to read to everyone who’s been asking this difficult question. Not that some plans are unwise. But I mustn’t let impertinent worry spoil this perpetual wonder!